Bring on France. That was the message from an upbeat Lawrence Dallaglio after England rediscovered some form to crush Wales in the last 20 minutes at Twickenham.

But the England skipper knows they will have to be at their World Cup best to beat France in Paris next weekend to have a chance of lifting the RBS Six Nations title and putting some gloss on an otherwise disappointing championship.

"France will fancy their chances," said Dallaglio, "but then so do we. And we play better when the pressure is on. I'm looking forward to Paris and so are the rest of the England players because we know we will have to front up.

"We did that in the last 20 minutes against Wales when we really needed to step it up. We dominated the game but that wasn't reflected in the scoreboard.

"It was disappointing the way we started the second half but then we showed organisation and power to dig ourselves out of the hole.

"Everyone was a little bit edgy bearing in mind what happened against Ireland but it was a good win in the end and we're just disappointed we didn't get more points on the board.

"I felt we didn't panic and kept our composure even when they seemed to get an awful lot of time over the ball - our ball especially - and were treated pretty leniently."

England won but they did not play particularly well for the first hour which made for a great game because the Welsh were very much in it until their pack folded and they did make a real thrust for victory early in the second half when England wobbled, their defence again looking vulnerable to the ball moved wide quickly.

"We were a much better side today," said coach Clive Woodward. "After the shambles against Ireland on and off the field we were much more up for it and it sets up the game in Paris - we will step up a gear for that one. The last 20 minutes was back to the England side we know, playing with pace and power, and we're really looking forward to Paris."

England take some plus points from the game. One is that Olly Barkley is capable of playing at this level and Woodward faces a real choice now for the number 10 shirt in Paris if Paul Grayson is fit.

Barkley is also capable of kicking goals at this level and given that he is quicker than Grayson, Woodward might be tempted to take a chance on him in Paris.

The second plus was that the England line-out was much, much better - they stole five Welsh throws.

The scrum was also back to its best and all that was missing was the precision in the backs until the last quarter ... and a solid defensive shield wide out which I'm sure France will have noted.

England were on the board quickly which helped settle nerves, Barkley's little dart opening the way for Danny Grewcock to peel wide from the ruck and Will Greenwood sent Ben Cohen clear. The wing did well to score under pressure before two Steve Jones penalties replied.

England went in at half time 16-9 up with Barkley kicking three more penalties to Jones' one, but Gareth Thomas' try at the start of the second half raised the stakes - and it was awful defence from England who failed to cover the wide running Welsh backs. It was all level at 16-16 as a result and it could have been Wales ahead had Jones kicked the goal after a stupid penalty giveaway from Grewcock.

Some shoddy refereeing cost England Mark Taylor's try. There was clear obstruction in midfield by Wales and not one, but two forward passes - something Southern Hemisphere referees seem unable to see these days.

England had their chances but every time they made the hole, they lost the ball or Wales got away with some blatant offsides. But then Mike Tindall's determined run and Phil Vickery and Matt Dawson's dart for the line saw the ball come to Cohen who went over the top for the try to restore England's lead.

England then destroyed the Welsh scrummage twice, both times on the Welsh ball and Dawson's back-hand pass for Grewcock saw Colin Charvis over the ball and England took the points. England made sure when Joe Worsley shot over from Cohen's pass.